Trial By Jury: commemorating the Penn and Mead trial

On the morning of 7th April, Quakers will gather by the Monument to the Great Fire of London, near Gracechurch Street in the City of London, to re-create an event from early Quaker History.

The  1670 trial of William Penn and William Mead established the right of a jury to convict or acquit according to their consciences. Recent decisions by judges not to allow defendants to explain the reasons for their actions in their defence has severely eroded this right, as they are not being given evidence that allows them to exercise the right

The events will be family friendly, nothing illegal or spicy is contemplated. Dressing up in period costume is encouraged!

We will meet at 11 am and start with Meeting for Worship; this is a modern version of the Preaching to 350 people.

This will be followed by lining Gracechurch street pavements with placards which will recreate the crowd on Gracechurch Street, we will place a blue plaque on the location of the events.

There will also be a contribution from the Climate Choir with a new specially written song: “Speak Truth to Power”.  Please learn and rehearse it with them in advance if you’d like to join in.

The day will round off with a bring and share lunch art Westminster Meeting House.

See this short video outlining the plan at

If you’d like to come it would help if you could register on Eventbrite at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-penn-and-mead-re-enactment-tickets-845898885337

Here is a wonderful short video of lawyers outlining the original case

Enqueries to PennandMead1670@proton.me